So Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California shot off his immigrant Austrian mouth and dissed the Hispanic community. Or at least that's the impression you'd get when you read the reactions of the race baiters and liberal demagogues. Let's look at what he said, in context, first.
"You've got to turn off the Spanish television set" and stay away from Spanish-language television, books and newspapers, the Republican governor said Wednesday night at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. "You're just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the language faster."
Schwarzenegger, who immigrated to the U.S. from Austria, was responding to a question about how Hispanic students can improve academic performance. The audience included many journalists who work for Spanish-language media outlets.
"I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I'm going to get myself in trouble," he said. "But I know that when I came to this country, I very rarely spoke German to anyone."
To translate and summarize, in answer to the question of how Hispanic students could improve academically, what the Governor's advice came down to was, in essence, learn English as soon as possible. Good advice, if you want to be successful in an English speaking country. Aw, heck, English is the language of business worldwide. From Doshisha University in Kyoto:
However, even these numbers do not really indicate how important English is as a world language, because less than fifteen percent of the world population uses English. The importance of English is not just in how many people speak it but in what it is used for. English is the major language of news and information in the world. It is the language of business and government even in some countries where it is a minority language. It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control, and it is used even for internal air traffic control in countries where it is not a native language. American popular culture--primarily movies and music--carries the English language throughout the world.
So, let's check out some of the reactions. From within the original story:
"I'm sitting shaking my head not believing that someone would be so naive and out of it that he would say something like that," Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said Thursday.
Nogales said immigrants need Spanish-language media to stay informed and "function in this society."
Actually, they'd be much better off if they expended every effort to stay informed in English.
Pilar Marrero, the political editor for the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion chuckled at the governor's comments, saying many Hispanics did not have time to learn English.
"They're too busy working," she said.
Yes, at low paying jobs. And if they were to learn English they'd open for themselves the opportunities of better employment. At least one person got it.
Rafael Olmeda, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said most NAHJ members would agree with the governor's statements.
"Most people I've spoken to walked away believing that he was trying to say that we must learn English to succeed in American society," Olmeda said.
There was more reaction later.
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., called the governor's advice a "typical sound bite solution to an important issue," said Jim Dau, a spokesman for Sanchez.
Sanchez said immigrants face the challenge of taking an ESL course because of long lines and up to a three-year wait to get into a class.
It doesn't take an ESL course, it takes determination to learn. If you're waiting for someone to open the door for you then you're wasting time. Kick the door open by doing everything you can to learn. Like turning off the Spanish language television.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger demonstrated his ignorance on immigration issues once again by perpetuating the myth that immigrants have to reject their old culture and language in order to learn English and assimilate," said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
That's not actually what he said, but that doesn't stop Mr. Wilkes. Let me reverse the construct, however. In order to be successful in America in most cases the best approach is to learn English and assimilate. You choose the best method, and you don't have to reject your "old culture and language." What you have to reject is dependency on your old culture and language.
Francisco Hernandez, an immigration attorney, said there’s nothing wrong with encouraging immigrants to learn English but there’s no need for “immigrant bashing.”
“We have to remember that Spanish is part of this country’s heritage. There’s nothing wrong with it,” Hernandez said.
Who's "immigrant bashing?" Another mischaracterization. Which brings us to Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon, starting with the title.
Ah-nuld holds forth on the dangers of knowing Spanish
Ahem. He didn't say that there was danger in knowing Spanish. He said there was danger of poor academic performance in not knowing English.
I know the Governator didn’t quite mean to encourage the idea that knowing two languages somehow makes you stupider than knowing one, but that’s the impression he left with his speech before a convention of Hispanic journalists.
And that's an incorrect impression. Once again, he didn't say that knowing two languages is a problem, and he didn't even say that not knowing English makes you stupider. But it makes it a lot easier to argue against his statements if you put the words you'd like to argue against into his mouth.
As Marc notes, there are few things more endearing than having a speaker at your professional convention slam your profession, and quite a few of the attendees work for Spanish-language media.
How, exactly, did he "slam" the profession? There's nothing wrong with Spanish language media. There is something wrong with dependency on Spanish language media (and teaching) in ways that affect your academic performance and your economic future.
But more to the point, Schwarzenegger—who hasn’t managed to shake his own Austrian accent well enough for the standards he lays out—doesn’t really go to much effort to hide his hostility towards the idea that Mexican-Americans might cherish bilingualism.
Austrian accent notwithstanding, Mr. Schwarzenegger didn't lay out "standards" on accents. Cherishing bilingualism isn't the issue, it's learning English. You know, the second language that would make a Mexican-American actually bilingual in the US. The one he's encouraging them to learn to make them bilingual.
And that's just the title and first three lines of Ms. Marcotte's piece. It is, indeed, very easy to take offense when the statements at the root of that offense are fictionalized and misrepresented. Let's take one more look at a statement by one of those Hispanic journalists, the one who got it.
"Most people I've spoken to walked away believing that he was trying to say that we must learn English to succeed in American society," Olmeda said.
"Most people." Just not Ms. Marcotte and her ilk.
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